Song of Songs Guides 2017
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Covenant Presbyterian Church Number 8 Song of Songs Solomon’s Song of Songs Love Song 7:1-8:7 and The Power of Love The Power of Love He 13 The mandrakes give forth fragrance, and beside our 7 How beautiful are your feet in sandals, doors are all choice fruits, new as well as old, which I O noble daughter! Your rounded thighs are like have laid up for you, O my beloved. jewels, the work of a master hand. 2 Your navel is a rounded bowl that never lacks mixed wine. Longing for Her Beloved Your belly is a heap of wheat, encircled with lilies. 8 Oh that you were like a brother to me who nursed at my 3 Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle. mother’s breasts! If I found you outside, I would kiss 4 Your neck is like an ivory tower. Your eyes are pools you, and none would despise me. in Heshbon, by the gate of Bath-rabbim. Your nose is 2 I would lead you and bring you into the house of my like a tower of Lebanon, which looks toward Damascus. mother— she who used to teach me. I would give you 5 Your head crowns you like Carmel, and your flowing locks spiced wine to drink, the juice of my pomegranate. are like purple; a king is held captive in the tresses. 3 His left hand is under my head, 6 How beautiful and pleasant you are, O loved one, and his right hand embraces me! with all your delights! 4 I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, 7 Your stature is like a palm tree, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases. and your breasts are like its clusters. 5 Who is that coming up from the wilderness, 8 I say I will climb the palm tree and lay hold of its fruit. leaning on her beloved? Oh may your breasts be like clusters of the vine, Under the apple tree I awakened you. and the scent of your breath like apples, There your mother was in labor with you; 9 and your mouth like the best wine. there she who bore you was in labor. She 6 Set me as a seal upon your heart, It goes down smoothly for my beloved, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong gliding over lips and teeth. as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. 10 I am my beloved’s, and his desire is for me. Its flashes are flashes of fire, The Bride Gives Her Love the very flame of the Lord. 11 Come, my beloved, let us go out into the fields and lodge 7 Many waters cannot quench love, in the villages; neither can floods drown it. 12 let us go out early to the vineyards and see whether the If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, vines have budded, whether the grape blossoms have he would be utterly despised. opened and the pomegranates are in bloom. - Song of Songs 7:1-8:7 There I will give you my love. Notes on Song of Songs 7:1-8:7 Now the new husband and wife offer similar songs, but this Summary - The love poems of this section parallel those of time the admiring descriptions of each another are 1:9-2:7. In the former songs the Bride and Groom, having accompanied by expressions of their intentions to make sought and found one another, expressed their mutual, love... For the husband, his woman is no longer a “locked exclusive desire in passionate anticipation of the day that was garden” (see v. 4:12), so he says “I will climb the palm tree soon to come--their wedding day. The chorus told of the and lay hold of its fruit.” And the wife invites her man into ornaments they would make for the occasion, and the couple their “vineyard” of ripened fruits and says, “There I will give praised each other with highly stylized and symbolic images. you my love.” GUIDE FOR PEOPLE BELONGING TO GOD, THE BRIDE OF CHRIST, THE CHURCH Then, in chapter 8, verses 5-8, we have the “Claiming the another, it is the woman’s body that is the domain of their Beloved” song that parallels the “Finding the Beloved” song love (p.245)... mandrakes... in ancient times these were of 1:7-8, and in these lines we find some of the most beautiful thought to possess special curative, fertility and aphrodisiac and powerful words about love found anywhere in all powers... O that you were like a brother to me (8:1)... to literature... Set me as a seal upon your heart... love is strong our ears this is a strange thing to say, but it indicates the as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave... Many waters wife’s desire to be more open about her affection toward cannot quench love... him--to shout her love from the mountain!--in a culture that 7:1-9 - The husband’s song here is interesting in a couple of forbade public displays between spouses while allowing it respects. Though he begins with her sandaled feet, she seems between siblings... house of my mother... a euphemism for otherwise to be wearing little or no clothing. Also, at the her place of conception... juice of my pomegranate... what highpoint of his physical description, before declaring his she cannot show in public, she will passionately offer in intention to make love with her, he lingers at her face and private... This kind of language from both husband and wife head. This focus conveys, says Dr. Duane Garrett (p.250), an clearly conveys the idea that by God’s design, and confirmed appreciation for the person and personality of the woman in His Word, sexual activity is for pleasure and not for since the face, more than any other part of the body, reproduction only. physically presents a person’s individuality. It is not simply a 8:5-7 - The power of love is affirmed and celebrated... female body that enthralls this lover, it is his woman in her apple tree (8:5)... symbolic of both physical love in the entirety!... ivory tower (7:4) may be compared to the “Tower moment and reproductive activity throughout the generations of David” of 4:4. The prior military language may indicate a (such trees produce luscious fruit and have many tangled kind of fortress he was unwilling to breach by force. Now the branches)... Set me as a seal (8:6)... a sign of covenant military language is gone. She is for him a pillar of strength, commitment. Like a scroll marked with a seal by the king beauty and craftsmanship where, by sincere invitation and who owns it, this man is to open himself only to the woman joyful agreement, he takes up residence... I say I will climb he belongs to (Note: It is the woman, in a highly patriarchal the palm tree... He announces his loving intentions. With the culture!, who is claiming exclusive ownership over the kind of determination it would take to scale a branchless date man.)... strong as death... The couple’s love binds them palm to retrieve its fruit, he will seek to share the pleasures of together as relentlessly as death... jealousy fierce... those their marriage bed. who love passionately are rightfully and passionately 7:9-8:4 - The wife now offers her answering song of possessive... In this human lovers model the love of God for invitation and delight... I am my beloved’s and his desire is His people... Many waters cannot quench love (8:7)... Once for me (7:10)... Previously (2:16 & 6:3), she has said that she the fires of love are kindled, they will not be put out by all the belongs to her lover and her lover belongs to her. The change water in the world!... To marry is to give one’s life to another, to “and his desire is for me” may be significant. Dr. Garret and whoever marries has died to all others... No one should again: The locus of love and desire here is the woman’s body; lightly or thoughtlessly enter into a love or sexual all possessiveness and desire are directed toward her. While it relationship. To do so is to invite emotional catastrophe. is still true that the man and woman mutually possess one (Garrett, p.257). Read & Reflect - 7:1-8:7 First Reading: How do the love songs you read here compare with those found toward the beginning of The Song? What is the same? What is different? Search & Consider 7:1-8 - In his admiring description, why do you suppose the man focuses on his beloved’s head & face (7:4-5)? ! 7:9-8:4 - Through all of the garden imagery, to what is the wife inviting her beloved (7:12-13; 8:2)? Why, then, would she say she wishes he was like her “brother” (8:1)? Apply 8:5-7 - Which of the images for love’s power do you find most interesting? Most difficult? Most compelling? (Apple tree? Seal? Death? Fire? Wealth?)... When have you seen love like that in your own life expereince? !!!!!!! Abide & Conquer: A Wedding Homily on John 15:1-17 Ordinarily what happens during a worship service like this one, or on a Sunday morning, is that someone like me gets up and reads from the Bible, and then he offers something called a sermon, or a homily, or a message.